Local filmmaker takes on hydrofracking (in the Hudson Valley)...

Source: Poughkeepsie Journal

There’s a lot of anti-fracking sentiment is the Hudson Valley. Many people show their opposition to the controversial natural gas extraction method with a bumper sticker. Some go as far as putting election-style signs on their lawns. A few organize rallies and some people attend those.

And if you’re a world-renowned documentary filmmaker like Jon Bowermaster, you make a documentary about it. Bowermaster, a Stone Ridge resident, together with Natalie Merchant, has made a film about the dangers of fracking called “Dear Governor Cuomo.”

The movie is directed at the governor because many fracking opponents fear Cuomo will lift the current moratorium on fracking. The film chronicles both an anti-fracking rally and a separate concert that took place in Albany on the same day in May.

“People have asked me what the film is like, and the best I can come up with is that it’s a cross between ‘The Last Waltz’ and ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ ” Bowermaster said, referencing the classic rock concert film starring The Band and Al Gore’s global warming epic...

3. Kicking from North Carolina, where fracking could begin in 2014.

14. 'Ethics must be paramount on (N.C.) fracking commission'...

A state commission is being handed the enormous responsibility of determining how, when and where natural gas drillers will work in this state, potentially deciding key questions involving billions of dollars.

Members of that commission must certainly be subject to the state’s ethics laws.

The N.C. Ethics Commission ended some uncertainty regarding that question last week in ruling that the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission must follow the state’s ethics rules. This often-called “fracking commission” was created by the General Assembly this year and packed with members favorable to the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing as a means of drilling for natural gas,

North Carolina is believed to hold 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and oil, most of it beneath the Piedmont counties of Lee, Moore and Chatham. Rather than wait for a thorough examination of the fracking process, which critics say endangers water and air quality and which so disrupts local geology that it has been blamed for some minor earthquakes, the General Assembly approved the practice this year. Then it told its new commission to come up with rules to drill safely.

The legislation loaded the commission with seats set aside for fracking supporters, and legislative leaders went a step further by filling at least one so-called environmentalist slot with another fracking support. In short, the commission looks like a rubber stamp for “drill, baby drill” regardless of the dangers.

Given the possibility that some members of the fracking commission may participate in the sale of drilling rights, it was absolutely essential that the Ethics Commission place the mining and energy commissioners under its purview.

A great deal is at stake for North Carolinians. Our groundwater could be fouled. Some argue that the process will deplete our water supply. There are concerns about air quality, disruption to rural communities, the path over which pipelines are installed and damage to our roads.

With all of this at stake, it is absolutely essential that North Carolinians know just who on the fracking commission could profit from its decisions.

4. Hat Tip to You, "Indi Guy!" We are fans of Hudson Valley and NYState...Here's Video

from your links folks might want to see:

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There’s a lot of anti-fracking sentiment is the Hudson Valley. Many people show their opposition to the controversial natural gas extraction method with a bumper sticker. Some go as far as putting election-style signs on their lawns. A few organize rallies and some people attend those.

And if you’re a world-renowned documentary filmmaker like Jon Bowermaster, you make a documentary about it. Bowermaster, a Stone Ridge resident, together with Natalie Merchant, has made a film about the dangers of fracking called “Dear Governor Cuomo.”
The movie is directed at the governor because many fracking opponents fear Cuomo will lift the current moratorium on fracking. The film chronicles both an anti-fracking rally and a separate concert that took place in Albany on the same day in May.

6. Then NYState is the Back Up to Stop this....!

Gotta Do It!

Even those Wall Street Hedge Funders, Banker Frauds and Hamptons Elite Addicts will worry about the safety of NYC water if the Resevoirs of their CLEAN WATER for Generations get's Fracked and they have to drink it!

11. The interesting thing about this is last night they did an hour special on fracking here in Korea

We missed maybe the first 8-10 minutes, but they explained it pretty well. The first half hour it seemed they were showing all pro-fracking stuff (note: I don't actually understand much Korean, but can follow along just enough). My wife (who is Korean) had seen part of Gasland and said she doesn't understand why the hell they would do this. I told her if they don't show the other side of it, they are going to get a nasty email from me. Sure enough the second half showed the dark side of fracking including scenes from Gasland. It was interesting to see them present the information in Korea having already well aware of the issue.